Allegiance (2015): Season 1, Episode 2 - Teamwork - full transcript
Mark (Scott Cohen) and Katya (Hope Davis) are nearly exposed as spies by their own son, Alex (Gavin Stenhouse). Then, in a brilliant bit of manipulation, Katya manages to convince Alex he is wrong. Katya's lies cause a rift between her and her husband and son. Victor is acutely warned of what will happen to him if he doesn't keep the O'Connors on a tight leash. Meanwhile, Alex partners with Agent Michelle Prado (Floriana Lima) as part of a joint CIA-FBI task force to find the hidden SVR cache before it's destroyed. Alex's unique perspective is the key to unmasking the identity of a new defector, leading to a deadly confrontation with an SVR hit team. Also starring Margarita Levieva (Natalie O'Connor) and Kenneth Choi (Sam Luttrell)."
(Katya) Previously on Allegiance...
- Alex O'Connor.
- You're Bill Adams.
Don't use your real name with me.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Our comrades in Moscow have a task for you.
You turn your son into a spy.
An SVR defector was caught
last week and dealt with.
The man had stolen hundreds
of thousands of computer files
and hid them somewhere.
You don't understand Alex.
He'll turn us in the moment
he finds out who we are.
Then you're stuck.
An SVR officer said he was
close to launching an operation
that would bring America to it's knees.
Do you know what an Easter egg is?
A hidden digital cache.
I think there's a trove of information
vital to the SVR still out there.
Maybe if we can figure out who Mikhail was,
we can find it before the Russians do.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You may actually be crazier than she is.
They get what they want from
Alex without him knowing.
He trusts us.
We have access to his car,
his phone, his computer.
We're the perfect people to spy on him.
Langley has our deceased
narrowed down to one name:
Mikhail Vostrov.
I remember one time when I was a kid
you called your friend
Nikolai "Mikhail" by mistake.
You can tell me everything,
or I can turn you in.
Hey, Alex. Who died?
(Alex) You can tell me
everything from the beginning,
or I can turn you in.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Everything's fine, Sarah. Go to your room.
Seriously? You guys are all crazy...
Go to your room, Sarah.
[Phone rings]
DA?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
This is impossible.
He was like a brother to me growing up.
If you grew up with him, then
you knew his name was Mikhail.
Then why did you lie about it?
Alex, I lost touch with Mikhail in 1975
when I was sent outside Russia
to go to boarding school.
12 years later, I'm walking
down 5th Avenue with your father,
and I see Mikhail across the street.
I yelled out his name, I ran to him.
[Engine starts]
Instead of a smile and a hug,
he told me that he was living
here under an assumed name
after barely escaping arrest...
So the whole house is bugged?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Mikhail is a dissident,
Alex. He is not a spy.
Dissidents don't do the
things listed in that file.
He was no dissident. He was a Russian spy.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
Katya, maybe Alex is right. Maybe he...
Wh... what are you talking
about? You know Mikhail.
Well, he bumped into us
nine months after I started
at Roche Aerospace.
I just started working on
their most classified project.
No, no. I saw him.
He... he didn't bump into me.
He put himself where you could see him.
I'm calling Mikhail right now.
- He won't answer.
- What?
But you know that.
Alex, what are you talking about?
He's dead. He was executed.
What?
The SVR discovered he was a traitor.
Who?
The Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki.
The Russian foreign intelligence service.
The KGB rebranded itself after
the Soviet Union broke up,
but she knows that
since she works for them.
What is wrong with you?
What the... [honk]
Is wrong with you?
_
- _
- (Katya) You accuse me of spying for the Russians?
Because one time I called
my old friend by his name?
- Because...
- August 18, 1994.
You snuck out of the house at midnight,
didn't come back till 5:00 A.M.
Your mother was working in
the ER back then on call.
I know.
You told me that's where
you were when you came home
and found me waiting at
the top of the stairs.
But Kings County Medical
Center was evacuated
on August 18, 1994.
Tropical storm Beryl
flooded the bottom two floors
and blew out all the power.
You lied to me.
Alex, I know that I wasn't around enough
when you were young and struggling.
- I know that.
- June '96, dad was in Beijing.
You left me with Natalie to go
to a pediatric oncology
conference in Boston.
The conference never happened.
It didn't exist. I can keep going.
- Stop.
- Then stop lying to me!
Alex, you don't want to know the truth
about where I went all those nights.
Tell me the truth, or tell the FBI.
Your choice.
Okay.
_
I was having an affair.
_
_
_
Mark, I'm so sorry.
Please tell me that's not true.
You were overseas for
months at a time and...
making a living for us.
- I was... I was so lonely.
- Lonely?
I was lonely too.
I...
I'm so ashamed.
You wanted the truth, so now you have it.
Dad, uh...
I'm sorry. I...
Alex, please.
I think you should go.
Your mom and I need to talk.
Your mother is very good.
[Tense music]
♪ ♪
_
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Cheap energy, Wall Street
gambling, and propaganda
are the only things propping it up.
This operation will answer the
American aggression forcefully.
Collapsing their economy in a single blow.
American influence over
the world will erode,
and we will be able to operate as we wish
in the Ukraine, in Europe, and beyond.
We are calling it "Black Dagger".
Madness.
This plan will kill thousands of Americans.
Tens of thousands.
Madness is the last of Russian sovereignty.
Madness is American sanctions forbidding us
from accessing our own bank account.
Now even in Switzerland.
This is madness.
_
_
There is a line, Mr. Bok.
Black Dagger crosses it.
We're merely answering
sanctions with sanctions.
American sanctions don't
have a blast radius.
_
[Phone vibrating]
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
[Electronic warbling]
[Sighs]
You don't have to destroy the house.
I want them gone.
I should have come to you first.
Everything's going to be all right.
Alex knew I was lying about all
those nights that I wasn't here.
I reached for the only explanation
that he wouldn't have considered.
And it worked.
You know what would have happened
if you couldn't convince him?
The SVR would have killed us.
I'm afraid he'll never forgive me.
He will.
You are his mother.
He'll get past it.
You're late for work.
Go.
I'm sorry.
I'll see you tonight.
Using our K-31 ramjet,
with the doped fuel mixture,
we can produce a block V
that would fly at Mach 4.75.
Same range and payload as the block IVS
the Navy's currently using
but with six times the speed.
It's a no-brainer.
[Voice fades out]
Alex, how long have I been following you?
- What?
- Three blocks.
You looked straight ahead the whole time.
I was walking forward.
Am I in trouble?
I don't know... is there
something you're not telling me?
No.
Good. Then stop blabbing and walk with me.
Irina's murder convinced Washington
that the SVR really is
planning attack on U.S. soil.
DC is setting up a joint
task force to stop it.
You're being detailed to it.
Really? And you?
Look, I'm just saying, Jeter really was
the heart and soul of the team, man.
Can't talk shop when a
stranger's passing nearby.
I'll have a kind of observer status.
Can't run a New York station
if I'm assigned to a task force.
Since this is a domestic investigation,
the Bureau will have
final say on what you do.
But don't forget, you
still work for me too.
We're in here.
(Alex) This is not a government building.
(Sam) Oh, it's not.
This is a covert task force, Bill.
- Hey, Jeff.
- Sir.
[Beep]
(Receptionist) Gentlemen.
[Beep]
Phone.
[Beep]
Come on.
Sam, good to see you again.
Michelle, keeping out of trouble?
Mm, courting it.
Ah, this is Alex O'Connor,
but out in the world, he's
in alias as Bill Adams.
Isn't that right, Bill?
- Michelle Prado.
- Alex O'Connor.
Uh, Adams. Damn it.
Let me introduce you
to Special Agent Brock.
Whatever this plot is,
it appears bad enough
to convince two SVR
lifers to try and defect.
Bob?
[Typing]
The best plan we have to stop it
is to find the SVR files Mikhail stole.
His, uh, Easter egg, as it's been called.
It means digging deep into Mikhail's life,
which we've already begun.
As of 20 minutes ago, we
found Mikhail's apartment,
rented under an alias, Carroll Gardens.
We're moving on it now.
It's guaranteed the SVR has
already scrubbed the place.
And?
Let's put a surveillance team on it,
see if the Russians send in a second wave.
We're not here to sit on our asses, Sam.
SVR is planning an attack against us.
I know, William. CIA
supplied the intelligence.
And FBI will assume that
attack is happening today,
every day until we stop it.
So we move now.
Walk with me.
You were right.
About what?
Alex O'Connor.
We could never have recruited him.
Yesterday he was ready
to turn his own parents in
for being spies.
I actually ordered Akos
to kill the whole family
to protect our operations.
Of course, you countermanded that.
Only because the threat was gone.
Katya turned things around.
For now.
I didn't want to lose Alex as a source.
Still, you took it upon yourself
to determine our priorities.
I'm sorry.
Don't apologize to me.
Apologize to Akos.
[Grunting]
He disobeyed a direct order.
You overstepped your authority.
There's a difference.
There's...
A small difference.
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
As you know, the FBI just
detailed Alex O'Connor
to a task force set up
to find Mikhail's files.
And the bug in Alex's phone cannot transmit
from inside their offices.
We cannot let them get to
those files before we do.
We need to track their investigation.
We need audio in their offices.
Inside the office will be very challenging.
Should I tell Moscow you're
unable to rise to the challenge?
Perhaps I can get a micro recorder
onto Alex O'Connor.
Something that can record
while he's inside the office
and burst transmit to us when
he's outside the building.
Good idea.
Report back to me when it's done.
Completely scrubbed.
Nothing at all?
A few stray hairs, a few
shards of what I think
is fiberglass from the
hallway, not much else.
(Michelle) Where did you find him?
NCS Director.
In her infinite wisdom.
You should watch him
debrief a defector someday.
I heard about what he did.
He's how we found what's
left of Mikhail's body.
And the whole Easter egg theory is his.
But he's going to need
some coaching in the field.
I can coach.
- [Chuckles]
- What?
I thought you liked girls.
Oh, Sam, you have such
a constrained view of me.
Yeah, you really should
have joined the Agency.
How do you survive at a
place as stodgy as the FBI?
What about him?
He's turned away two fares.
(Sam) Could be having his lunch.
I don't see him eating.
No fare. No fare.
(Alex) I don't want a ride.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
[Grunts]
[Police siren blaring]
(Brock) He's gotta be SVR.
(Sam) Why would SVR have an officer outside
waiting on the inevitable wave
of federal agents to descend?
It's too risky.
(Michelle) The cab was stolen.
Another risky choice.
He kept his face down the entire run.
Not a single usable image
for facial recognition.
The cab was clean.
Basically we know nothing about this guy.
He had sticky fingers.
What?
There was a discoloration in the pattern
on the fingers of his right hand.
I think it was from being wrapped in tape.
A boxer.
The guy could fight.
Michelle, get a list of local boxing gyms.
A boxer?
Well, that's a start.
Why don't you go back to
your hotel and clean up?
I don't have any more clean shirts left.
I only packed for three days.
We're in Manhattan.
It is possible to buy more here.
(Natalie) So why did you call me, not mom?
Mom doesn't pick out my shirts.
Not anymore.
You mean as of tonight
when I'm doing it instead?
I don't have great taste. So what?
[Chuckles]
I'm just giving you a hard time.
I knew that.
No, you didn't.
But that's okay.
How about this one?
Pink? Are... are you kidding me?
[Chuckles] Pink's back.
Blue... is blue back too?
Blue never went away, but, um,
frankly it's about the cut, not the color.
So you were going to tell me?
Tell you what?
What's up with you and mom?
(Alex) It's hard to explain.
(Natalie) Then don't explain
it, just tell me what it is.
When we were kids, do you
remember how much mom was gone?
I remember when she was there
'cause most of the time she wasn't.
Sometimes even in the middle of the night.
A lot of times.
(Natalie) Dad told me what happened.
(Alex) I can't believe what I did.
What's going to happen to mom and dad now?
You didn't do anything.
I hate to say it, but...
But what?
Alex, everybody knew
she was having an affair.
- Dad didn't know.
- Dad didn't want to know then.
(Alex) Well, I didn't know.
(Natalie) You were a kid.
Mom made mistakes. Now
she has to pay for them.
That's the way life is.
Look, Alex, what's between
mom and dad is their business.
If I were you, I would just leave it alone.
She had to play it that way, Katya.
She didn't have to enjoy it.
[Etta Jones' "Till There Was You" playing]
♪ No, I never heard them at all ♪
♪ Till there was you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ There were birds ♪
Dance with me.
♪ In the sky ♪
♪ But I never ♪
I don't think so.
Just for a few minutes.
Are we really going to do this again?
It didn't work out so well last time.
Now it...
it isn't even safe.
[Sighs]
Was it ever?
It's worse now.
Believe me.
♪ They tell me ♪
Do you ever think about me?
It's not enough to make it make sense.
[Chuckles]
When my mother came to me the other day
about the family leaving,
I said she was crazy.
I had a life here, a job,
friends, an apartment.
I told her I couldn't leave it all.
I was talking about you.
[Musical ringtone]
- Yes?
- Telecom research.
Right, I need a primer on fiber optics.
- We can do that.
- [Beep]
Can you hang on a second?
_
Uh, I'm back.
(Alex) This is Alex O'Connor.
Please leave a message.
[Beep]
Hi, Alex. It's mom.
Call me.
You're making it harder, Katya.
It's my home.
Think what you did will stop the rezident
from bugging it again?
If I find a strange man in my house,
he may end up with a bullet in his head.
My home is off-limits.
Alex's new offices are completely
walled off electronically.
We need to get a micro recorder inside.
Good luck.
Duplicates of the shirts
Alex bought tonight.
One button on each is a recorder
with a burst transmitter.
It will upload the audio
when a signal is available.
I need you to switch the shirts tonight.
Alex isn't even talking to me.
You'll figure something out.
Yesterday proved you haven't lost a step.
An affair?
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
I mean it.
You are an exceptionally gifted spy, Katya.
Accept who you are.
Everything will go better for both of us.
So we just need to figure out
how to get into Alex's hotel room.
Are you with me right now?
I heard you.
What's wrong?
When Alex was 12,
he was suppose to memorize the
Gettysburg address for school.
Instead he memorized every single speech
Lincoln ever gave.
In a week, just in case.
He remembers everything.
Everything from his whole life.
And?
That night Alex mentioned
when you said you were at the hospital,
but it was actually flooded,
do you remember where you really were?
No idea. Why?
I was just thinking about it earlier today.
That night. The night of the storm.
I was in Saudi Arabia
negotiating a radar sale.
CNN reported on it, on the storm.
It was bad. I was worried.
I called several times. You didn't pick up.
Yeah, I made up the affair story, Mark.
Okay?
And not just to save
myself but to save you.
And Alex hates me because of it.
And now you're gonna turn on me?
I just asked a question, Katya.
Well, we don't have time for questions.
Here's what I remember.
I remember the deal
that we made with Victor,
the deal that you forced me to make,
saying we had access to
Alex's car, his phone,
- his computer...
- We had no other option.
You could have let me turn myself in.
And destroy our family?
That's not a choice you get to make.
We get what the SVR needs,
or they go after Alex directly.
What words do you need me to say, Mark?
That I didn't cheat on you?
I didn't.
I didn't have an affair.
The affair was so long ago, I
almost forgot that it happened.
How do you forget something like that?
If you don't want to remember.
- This doesn't...
- It... it was a mistake.
It just doesn't seem like you.
It is me.
[Sighs]
Your father was traveling so much then.
I felt neglected.
But that's... it's not a excuse.
There is no excuse.
And the worst thing about
it is that it took time
away from you and Natalie.
I hurt you then,
and to be doing that again now,
I feel horrible.
Alex... [chuckles]
Do you remember when you were young
how much you loved the Carnegie Deli?
It's right around the corner.
Mom, I can't. I have to work.
You have to eat.
Okay.
[Sighs]
I'm not the mother I wanted to be, Alex.
I'm sorry.
I love you, mama.
[Elevator dings]
We went through every frame of footage
from every surveillance
camera in the area again.
Nothing, no prints on
the cab, inside or out.
Great... a dozen of the top
counterintelligence agents
in the Bureau, blank check for a budget,
the entire U.S. Intelligence
Community on tap,
and we're reduced to sweeping
local gyms for Russian boxers.
(Alex) We should stop doing that.
Our cabbie's not a boxer.
The tape residue was
only on his right hand,
and I think our guy's left-handed.
Based on what?
During the foot chase,
he went left four times
are right twice before we lost him.
A review of the video
cameras that caught him
before he disappeared into the subway
showed three more lefts and no rights.
He went left seven times and right twice.
And that means he's left-handed?
More than likely, yes,
according to the literature
on unconscious biases,
and that got me thinking.
I mean, I couldn't stop thinking
about the fiberglass shards
we found in the hallway
outside Mikhail's apartment...
they were high quality.
Something called siprnet-grade fiber optics
according to our techs.
Last night I spoke to a CIA
S&T expert about fiber optics.
Turns out fiber optics
engineers wear double-sided tape
on their non dominant
hand to protect themselves
from fiberglass shards
embedding in the skin.
And then there are his
glasses. They're unusual.
The lenses have an optical density of 4+
in the 850 to 1,700 nanometer range.
Take a breath, Alex.
Uh, right.
850 to 1,700 nanometers is
the most common wavelengths
encountered in fiber optics applications.
Are you talking about his work?
Yes.
He lays fiber optic cable for a living.
And given the particular
grade of his equipment,
I say he does so for a
data management company
or a high-end security firm.
There have to be dozens
of firms that do that
in the tri-state area.
52.
How many of them have Russian employees?
I don't know.
But the cabbie's accent was Georgian,
and only one of those firms
employees a Georgian national.
His name is Vasso Matiashvili.
All that from one all-nighter?
No, I slept.
The firm says he works from a home office,
but they wouldn't give me an address.
We're gonna need a warrant.
No way a cyber-security firm
opens up their personnel files
out of the goodness of their heart.
I'll walk it into the
U.S. Attorney's office.
You go with her.
Do I have food in my teeth or something?
No. Uh, no.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You okay?
Yeah.
You're protecting him, dad.
The truth would destroy him.
Well, the lies might destroy me.
They don't come naturally to you
like they do to mom.
What's that supposed to mean?
Forget it.
You think she had an affair?
I don't know.
It's none of my business.
No, it's not.
[Scoffs]
Are you uncomfortable?
I don't like vinyl surfaces.
No one does, really.
According to his file,
Mikhail was in internal
counterintelligence.
He didn't have any computer skills really
at all.
That was in his file?
I really don't like these seats.
It's a government car.
You're not supposed to
like anything about it.
And I think it's leather, actually.
No, it's vinyl.
And it wasn't in his file.
But you don't need computer skills
to be in counterintelligence.
You need to have a nose for defectors.
Okay, what does that mean?
[Sighs]
I don't know yet.
(Alex) He lays fiber
optic cable for a living.
[Clears throat]
Any idea who he's talking about?
Vasso Matiashvili.
We recruited him from a
Georgian paramilitary unit
ten years ago.
Came to America on a work VISA,
we placed him in corporate security.
What was he doing hovering
around Mikhail's apartment
pretending to be a cab driver?
I plan to ask him that.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
[Man on phone speaking Russian]
(Michelle) We've been here for
four hours. How much longer?
Really?
Fine.
It's just a warrant. What
takes these judges so long?
[Phone ringing]
Hello?
(Vasso) Getting that warrant
isn't going to help you find me.
If you want to talk, do as I say.
Vasso?
(Vasso) Toss the batteries from
your cell phones out the window.
I'm tracking the MSID pings.
I'll know if you've complied.
And if we don't?
(Vasso) I hang up,
and you'll never know
what I know about Mikhail.
So let's talk.
(Vasso) Drive across
the Williamsburg Bridge.
Park on 11th.
We could be driving into a trap.
If he wanted us dead, he'd have put
a bomb in the car, not a cell phone.
I don't think he wants
to kill us or anyone.
So what does he want then?
I think he wants to defect.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
He's with two federal agents.
How are they going to grab him?
Carefully.
_
_
Use force against U.S. federal agents
in their own country?
This is a line Moscow has never crossed.
I don't think you understand
the stakes, Victor.
I do.
If it goes wrong, if they end up dead,
that's the kind of thing that
could restart the cold war.
If the Americans get their
hands on the files Mikhail stole,
it will start an actual war.
We need Vasso.
At any cost.
Where are they?
11th Street in Brooklyn,
but that's just a first stop.
Where after that?
I don't know,
but it feels like a trap.
[Phone ringing]
We're in Brooklyn.
(Vasso) Yes, I know.
Southwest Corner of the
Old Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Bond Street's the fastest
way to the Navy Yard.
No, there's construction at Livingston.
We'll get stuck.
_
You ready for this?
- [Gunshot]
- [Glass shattering]
That was a gunshot. Go, go, go!
[Phone rings]
(Vasso) Put your weapon away,
or this will be a very short meeting.
Building 17.
Half mile down this road.
Come on foot.
What is your eta on site?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You have to move faster.
Where's Mikhail?
Did he defect?
He's dead.
When?
Three days ago.
Killed by the SVR.
It was you.
You stole the SVR's files, not Mikhail.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
English, Alex.
Mikhail disappeared.
I was outside of his
apartment hoping he'd show up.
I stole the files.
Mikhail caught me.
But he didn't turn you in. Why?
Because of what I found in them.
The SVR operation against America?
They're calling it "Black Dagger."
I don't know the operation specifics,
but the scope is monumental.
[Speaking Russian]
I didn't sign up to kill innocent people
or do something that will start a war
between our countries.
Why would Moscow do this?
[Scoffs]
It's not Moscow,
at least not the political
authorities in Moscow.
(Michelle) What are you saying?
That the Kremlin's lost control of the SVR.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
_
Mikhail secured new aliases for us.
Aliases the SVR was unaware of.
He was about to make
contact with the Americans.
Offering to trade the files I downloaded.
Where are the files now?
They're on an encrypted hard drive
secured inside a laptop.
Take us there. We'll protect you.
I don't know where it is.
What?
I gave it to Mikhail to hide.
Only he knows where it is.
Only I know the password to open the drive
and how to stop the deletion timer.
Deletion timer?
I uploaded a virus onto the laptop,
one that will auto-delete the files.
It was a safeguard against either of us
betraying the other.
How long?
48 hours.
What's wrong?
- Someone's out there.
- Don't. Don't.
[Gunfire]
Give me the phone.
(Operator) 911, where's your emergency?
Brooklyn Navy Yard. Building 17.
Multiple shots fired.
Federal agent requesting help.
[Gunfire]
Move him away from the door.
We got to hold them off for
three or four minutes tops
until NYPD gets here.
[Distant sirens wailing]
You know how to use that?
- Not really.
- Well, get it.
And don't point it at me.
Get down!
[Grunts]
[Gunshots]
_
_
_
_
I'm going to tourniquet your shoulder.
[Radio static]
[Groans]
Oh.
Uh...
You want to make the
people who did this pay,
we need to find the hard
drive with your files.
How?
The aliases Mikhail didn't
tell the SVR about...
he must have used them in hiding the drive.
Give them to us. We'll find it.
[Sirens continue approaching]
(Vasso) First alias:
Vladimir Kuznetsov.
Second alias:
Anatoly Motinkin.
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
[Gunshot]
[Sirens continue approaching]
- Alex O'Connor.
- You're Bill Adams.
Don't use your real name with me.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Our comrades in Moscow have a task for you.
You turn your son into a spy.
An SVR defector was caught
last week and dealt with.
The man had stolen hundreds
of thousands of computer files
and hid them somewhere.
You don't understand Alex.
He'll turn us in the moment
he finds out who we are.
Then you're stuck.
An SVR officer said he was
close to launching an operation
that would bring America to it's knees.
Do you know what an Easter egg is?
A hidden digital cache.
I think there's a trove of information
vital to the SVR still out there.
Maybe if we can figure out who Mikhail was,
we can find it before the Russians do.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You may actually be crazier than she is.
They get what they want from
Alex without him knowing.
He trusts us.
We have access to his car,
his phone, his computer.
We're the perfect people to spy on him.
Langley has our deceased
narrowed down to one name:
Mikhail Vostrov.
I remember one time when I was a kid
you called your friend
Nikolai "Mikhail" by mistake.
You can tell me everything,
or I can turn you in.
Hey, Alex. Who died?
(Alex) You can tell me
everything from the beginning,
or I can turn you in.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Everything's fine, Sarah. Go to your room.
Seriously? You guys are all crazy...
Go to your room, Sarah.
[Phone rings]
DA?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
This is impossible.
He was like a brother to me growing up.
If you grew up with him, then
you knew his name was Mikhail.
Then why did you lie about it?
Alex, I lost touch with Mikhail in 1975
when I was sent outside Russia
to go to boarding school.
12 years later, I'm walking
down 5th Avenue with your father,
and I see Mikhail across the street.
I yelled out his name, I ran to him.
[Engine starts]
Instead of a smile and a hug,
he told me that he was living
here under an assumed name
after barely escaping arrest...
So the whole house is bugged?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Mikhail is a dissident,
Alex. He is not a spy.
Dissidents don't do the
things listed in that file.
He was no dissident. He was a Russian spy.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
Katya, maybe Alex is right. Maybe he...
Wh... what are you talking
about? You know Mikhail.
Well, he bumped into us
nine months after I started
at Roche Aerospace.
I just started working on
their most classified project.
No, no. I saw him.
He... he didn't bump into me.
He put himself where you could see him.
I'm calling Mikhail right now.
- He won't answer.
- What?
But you know that.
Alex, what are you talking about?
He's dead. He was executed.
What?
The SVR discovered he was a traitor.
Who?
The Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki.
The Russian foreign intelligence service.
The KGB rebranded itself after
the Soviet Union broke up,
but she knows that
since she works for them.
What is wrong with you?
What the... [honk]
Is wrong with you?
_
- _
- (Katya) You accuse me of spying for the Russians?
Because one time I called
my old friend by his name?
- Because...
- August 18, 1994.
You snuck out of the house at midnight,
didn't come back till 5:00 A.M.
Your mother was working in
the ER back then on call.
I know.
You told me that's where
you were when you came home
and found me waiting at
the top of the stairs.
But Kings County Medical
Center was evacuated
on August 18, 1994.
Tropical storm Beryl
flooded the bottom two floors
and blew out all the power.
You lied to me.
Alex, I know that I wasn't around enough
when you were young and struggling.
- I know that.
- June '96, dad was in Beijing.
You left me with Natalie to go
to a pediatric oncology
conference in Boston.
The conference never happened.
It didn't exist. I can keep going.
- Stop.
- Then stop lying to me!
Alex, you don't want to know the truth
about where I went all those nights.
Tell me the truth, or tell the FBI.
Your choice.
Okay.
_
I was having an affair.
_
_
_
Mark, I'm so sorry.
Please tell me that's not true.
You were overseas for
months at a time and...
making a living for us.
- I was... I was so lonely.
- Lonely?
I was lonely too.
I...
I'm so ashamed.
You wanted the truth, so now you have it.
Dad, uh...
I'm sorry. I...
Alex, please.
I think you should go.
Your mom and I need to talk.
Your mother is very good.
[Tense music]
♪ ♪
_
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
Cheap energy, Wall Street
gambling, and propaganda
are the only things propping it up.
This operation will answer the
American aggression forcefully.
Collapsing their economy in a single blow.
American influence over
the world will erode,
and we will be able to operate as we wish
in the Ukraine, in Europe, and beyond.
We are calling it "Black Dagger".
Madness.
This plan will kill thousands of Americans.
Tens of thousands.
Madness is the last of Russian sovereignty.
Madness is American sanctions forbidding us
from accessing our own bank account.
Now even in Switzerland.
This is madness.
_
_
There is a line, Mr. Bok.
Black Dagger crosses it.
We're merely answering
sanctions with sanctions.
American sanctions don't
have a blast radius.
_
[Phone vibrating]
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
[Electronic warbling]
[Sighs]
You don't have to destroy the house.
I want them gone.
I should have come to you first.
Everything's going to be all right.
Alex knew I was lying about all
those nights that I wasn't here.
I reached for the only explanation
that he wouldn't have considered.
And it worked.
You know what would have happened
if you couldn't convince him?
The SVR would have killed us.
I'm afraid he'll never forgive me.
He will.
You are his mother.
He'll get past it.
You're late for work.
Go.
I'm sorry.
I'll see you tonight.
Using our K-31 ramjet,
with the doped fuel mixture,
we can produce a block V
that would fly at Mach 4.75.
Same range and payload as the block IVS
the Navy's currently using
but with six times the speed.
It's a no-brainer.
[Voice fades out]
Alex, how long have I been following you?
- What?
- Three blocks.
You looked straight ahead the whole time.
I was walking forward.
Am I in trouble?
I don't know... is there
something you're not telling me?
No.
Good. Then stop blabbing and walk with me.
Irina's murder convinced Washington
that the SVR really is
planning attack on U.S. soil.
DC is setting up a joint
task force to stop it.
You're being detailed to it.
Really? And you?
Look, I'm just saying, Jeter really was
the heart and soul of the team, man.
Can't talk shop when a
stranger's passing nearby.
I'll have a kind of observer status.
Can't run a New York station
if I'm assigned to a task force.
Since this is a domestic investigation,
the Bureau will have
final say on what you do.
But don't forget, you
still work for me too.
We're in here.
(Alex) This is not a government building.
(Sam) Oh, it's not.
This is a covert task force, Bill.
- Hey, Jeff.
- Sir.
[Beep]
(Receptionist) Gentlemen.
[Beep]
Phone.
[Beep]
Come on.
Sam, good to see you again.
Michelle, keeping out of trouble?
Mm, courting it.
Ah, this is Alex O'Connor,
but out in the world, he's
in alias as Bill Adams.
Isn't that right, Bill?
- Michelle Prado.
- Alex O'Connor.
Uh, Adams. Damn it.
Let me introduce you
to Special Agent Brock.
Whatever this plot is,
it appears bad enough
to convince two SVR
lifers to try and defect.
Bob?
[Typing]
The best plan we have to stop it
is to find the SVR files Mikhail stole.
His, uh, Easter egg, as it's been called.
It means digging deep into Mikhail's life,
which we've already begun.
As of 20 minutes ago, we
found Mikhail's apartment,
rented under an alias, Carroll Gardens.
We're moving on it now.
It's guaranteed the SVR has
already scrubbed the place.
And?
Let's put a surveillance team on it,
see if the Russians send in a second wave.
We're not here to sit on our asses, Sam.
SVR is planning an attack against us.
I know, William. CIA
supplied the intelligence.
And FBI will assume that
attack is happening today,
every day until we stop it.
So we move now.
Walk with me.
You were right.
About what?
Alex O'Connor.
We could never have recruited him.
Yesterday he was ready
to turn his own parents in
for being spies.
I actually ordered Akos
to kill the whole family
to protect our operations.
Of course, you countermanded that.
Only because the threat was gone.
Katya turned things around.
For now.
I didn't want to lose Alex as a source.
Still, you took it upon yourself
to determine our priorities.
I'm sorry.
Don't apologize to me.
Apologize to Akos.
[Grunting]
He disobeyed a direct order.
You overstepped your authority.
There's a difference.
There's...
A small difference.
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
As you know, the FBI just
detailed Alex O'Connor
to a task force set up
to find Mikhail's files.
And the bug in Alex's phone cannot transmit
from inside their offices.
We cannot let them get to
those files before we do.
We need to track their investigation.
We need audio in their offices.
Inside the office will be very challenging.
Should I tell Moscow you're
unable to rise to the challenge?
Perhaps I can get a micro recorder
onto Alex O'Connor.
Something that can record
while he's inside the office
and burst transmit to us when
he's outside the building.
Good idea.
Report back to me when it's done.
Completely scrubbed.
Nothing at all?
A few stray hairs, a few
shards of what I think
is fiberglass from the
hallway, not much else.
(Michelle) Where did you find him?
NCS Director.
In her infinite wisdom.
You should watch him
debrief a defector someday.
I heard about what he did.
He's how we found what's
left of Mikhail's body.
And the whole Easter egg theory is his.
But he's going to need
some coaching in the field.
I can coach.
- [Chuckles]
- What?
I thought you liked girls.
Oh, Sam, you have such
a constrained view of me.
Yeah, you really should
have joined the Agency.
How do you survive at a
place as stodgy as the FBI?
What about him?
He's turned away two fares.
(Sam) Could be having his lunch.
I don't see him eating.
No fare. No fare.
(Alex) I don't want a ride.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
[Grunts]
[Police siren blaring]
(Brock) He's gotta be SVR.
(Sam) Why would SVR have an officer outside
waiting on the inevitable wave
of federal agents to descend?
It's too risky.
(Michelle) The cab was stolen.
Another risky choice.
He kept his face down the entire run.
Not a single usable image
for facial recognition.
The cab was clean.
Basically we know nothing about this guy.
He had sticky fingers.
What?
There was a discoloration in the pattern
on the fingers of his right hand.
I think it was from being wrapped in tape.
A boxer.
The guy could fight.
Michelle, get a list of local boxing gyms.
A boxer?
Well, that's a start.
Why don't you go back to
your hotel and clean up?
I don't have any more clean shirts left.
I only packed for three days.
We're in Manhattan.
It is possible to buy more here.
(Natalie) So why did you call me, not mom?
Mom doesn't pick out my shirts.
Not anymore.
You mean as of tonight
when I'm doing it instead?
I don't have great taste. So what?
[Chuckles]
I'm just giving you a hard time.
I knew that.
No, you didn't.
But that's okay.
How about this one?
Pink? Are... are you kidding me?
[Chuckles] Pink's back.
Blue... is blue back too?
Blue never went away, but, um,
frankly it's about the cut, not the color.
So you were going to tell me?
Tell you what?
What's up with you and mom?
(Alex) It's hard to explain.
(Natalie) Then don't explain
it, just tell me what it is.
When we were kids, do you
remember how much mom was gone?
I remember when she was there
'cause most of the time she wasn't.
Sometimes even in the middle of the night.
A lot of times.
(Natalie) Dad told me what happened.
(Alex) I can't believe what I did.
What's going to happen to mom and dad now?
You didn't do anything.
I hate to say it, but...
But what?
Alex, everybody knew
she was having an affair.
- Dad didn't know.
- Dad didn't want to know then.
(Alex) Well, I didn't know.
(Natalie) You were a kid.
Mom made mistakes. Now
she has to pay for them.
That's the way life is.
Look, Alex, what's between
mom and dad is their business.
If I were you, I would just leave it alone.
She had to play it that way, Katya.
She didn't have to enjoy it.
[Etta Jones' "Till There Was You" playing]
♪ No, I never heard them at all ♪
♪ Till there was you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ There were birds ♪
Dance with me.
♪ In the sky ♪
♪ But I never ♪
I don't think so.
Just for a few minutes.
Are we really going to do this again?
It didn't work out so well last time.
Now it...
it isn't even safe.
[Sighs]
Was it ever?
It's worse now.
Believe me.
♪ They tell me ♪
Do you ever think about me?
It's not enough to make it make sense.
[Chuckles]
When my mother came to me the other day
about the family leaving,
I said she was crazy.
I had a life here, a job,
friends, an apartment.
I told her I couldn't leave it all.
I was talking about you.
[Musical ringtone]
- Yes?
- Telecom research.
Right, I need a primer on fiber optics.
- We can do that.
- [Beep]
Can you hang on a second?
_
Uh, I'm back.
(Alex) This is Alex O'Connor.
Please leave a message.
[Beep]
Hi, Alex. It's mom.
Call me.
You're making it harder, Katya.
It's my home.
Think what you did will stop the rezident
from bugging it again?
If I find a strange man in my house,
he may end up with a bullet in his head.
My home is off-limits.
Alex's new offices are completely
walled off electronically.
We need to get a micro recorder inside.
Good luck.
Duplicates of the shirts
Alex bought tonight.
One button on each is a recorder
with a burst transmitter.
It will upload the audio
when a signal is available.
I need you to switch the shirts tonight.
Alex isn't even talking to me.
You'll figure something out.
Yesterday proved you haven't lost a step.
An affair?
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
I mean it.
You are an exceptionally gifted spy, Katya.
Accept who you are.
Everything will go better for both of us.
So we just need to figure out
how to get into Alex's hotel room.
Are you with me right now?
I heard you.
What's wrong?
When Alex was 12,
he was suppose to memorize the
Gettysburg address for school.
Instead he memorized every single speech
Lincoln ever gave.
In a week, just in case.
He remembers everything.
Everything from his whole life.
And?
That night Alex mentioned
when you said you were at the hospital,
but it was actually flooded,
do you remember where you really were?
No idea. Why?
I was just thinking about it earlier today.
That night. The night of the storm.
I was in Saudi Arabia
negotiating a radar sale.
CNN reported on it, on the storm.
It was bad. I was worried.
I called several times. You didn't pick up.
Yeah, I made up the affair story, Mark.
Okay?
And not just to save
myself but to save you.
And Alex hates me because of it.
And now you're gonna turn on me?
I just asked a question, Katya.
Well, we don't have time for questions.
Here's what I remember.
I remember the deal
that we made with Victor,
the deal that you forced me to make,
saying we had access to
Alex's car, his phone,
- his computer...
- We had no other option.
You could have let me turn myself in.
And destroy our family?
That's not a choice you get to make.
We get what the SVR needs,
or they go after Alex directly.
What words do you need me to say, Mark?
That I didn't cheat on you?
I didn't.
I didn't have an affair.
The affair was so long ago, I
almost forgot that it happened.
How do you forget something like that?
If you don't want to remember.
- This doesn't...
- It... it was a mistake.
It just doesn't seem like you.
It is me.
[Sighs]
Your father was traveling so much then.
I felt neglected.
But that's... it's not a excuse.
There is no excuse.
And the worst thing about
it is that it took time
away from you and Natalie.
I hurt you then,
and to be doing that again now,
I feel horrible.
Alex... [chuckles]
Do you remember when you were young
how much you loved the Carnegie Deli?
It's right around the corner.
Mom, I can't. I have to work.
You have to eat.
Okay.
[Sighs]
I'm not the mother I wanted to be, Alex.
I'm sorry.
I love you, mama.
[Elevator dings]
We went through every frame of footage
from every surveillance
camera in the area again.
Nothing, no prints on
the cab, inside or out.
Great... a dozen of the top
counterintelligence agents
in the Bureau, blank check for a budget,
the entire U.S. Intelligence
Community on tap,
and we're reduced to sweeping
local gyms for Russian boxers.
(Alex) We should stop doing that.
Our cabbie's not a boxer.
The tape residue was
only on his right hand,
and I think our guy's left-handed.
Based on what?
During the foot chase,
he went left four times
are right twice before we lost him.
A review of the video
cameras that caught him
before he disappeared into the subway
showed three more lefts and no rights.
He went left seven times and right twice.
And that means he's left-handed?
More than likely, yes,
according to the literature
on unconscious biases,
and that got me thinking.
I mean, I couldn't stop thinking
about the fiberglass shards
we found in the hallway
outside Mikhail's apartment...
they were high quality.
Something called siprnet-grade fiber optics
according to our techs.
Last night I spoke to a CIA
S&T expert about fiber optics.
Turns out fiber optics
engineers wear double-sided tape
on their non dominant
hand to protect themselves
from fiberglass shards
embedding in the skin.
And then there are his
glasses. They're unusual.
The lenses have an optical density of 4+
in the 850 to 1,700 nanometer range.
Take a breath, Alex.
Uh, right.
850 to 1,700 nanometers is
the most common wavelengths
encountered in fiber optics applications.
Are you talking about his work?
Yes.
He lays fiber optic cable for a living.
And given the particular
grade of his equipment,
I say he does so for a
data management company
or a high-end security firm.
There have to be dozens
of firms that do that
in the tri-state area.
52.
How many of them have Russian employees?
I don't know.
But the cabbie's accent was Georgian,
and only one of those firms
employees a Georgian national.
His name is Vasso Matiashvili.
All that from one all-nighter?
No, I slept.
The firm says he works from a home office,
but they wouldn't give me an address.
We're gonna need a warrant.
No way a cyber-security firm
opens up their personnel files
out of the goodness of their heart.
I'll walk it into the
U.S. Attorney's office.
You go with her.
Do I have food in my teeth or something?
No. Uh, no.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You okay?
Yeah.
You're protecting him, dad.
The truth would destroy him.
Well, the lies might destroy me.
They don't come naturally to you
like they do to mom.
What's that supposed to mean?
Forget it.
You think she had an affair?
I don't know.
It's none of my business.
No, it's not.
[Scoffs]
Are you uncomfortable?
I don't like vinyl surfaces.
No one does, really.
According to his file,
Mikhail was in internal
counterintelligence.
He didn't have any computer skills really
at all.
That was in his file?
I really don't like these seats.
It's a government car.
You're not supposed to
like anything about it.
And I think it's leather, actually.
No, it's vinyl.
And it wasn't in his file.
But you don't need computer skills
to be in counterintelligence.
You need to have a nose for defectors.
Okay, what does that mean?
[Sighs]
I don't know yet.
(Alex) He lays fiber
optic cable for a living.
[Clears throat]
Any idea who he's talking about?
Vasso Matiashvili.
We recruited him from a
Georgian paramilitary unit
ten years ago.
Came to America on a work VISA,
we placed him in corporate security.
What was he doing hovering
around Mikhail's apartment
pretending to be a cab driver?
I plan to ask him that.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
[Man on phone speaking Russian]
(Michelle) We've been here for
four hours. How much longer?
Really?
Fine.
It's just a warrant. What
takes these judges so long?
[Phone ringing]
Hello?
(Vasso) Getting that warrant
isn't going to help you find me.
If you want to talk, do as I say.
Vasso?
(Vasso) Toss the batteries from
your cell phones out the window.
I'm tracking the MSID pings.
I'll know if you've complied.
And if we don't?
(Vasso) I hang up,
and you'll never know
what I know about Mikhail.
So let's talk.
(Vasso) Drive across
the Williamsburg Bridge.
Park on 11th.
We could be driving into a trap.
If he wanted us dead, he'd have put
a bomb in the car, not a cell phone.
I don't think he wants
to kill us or anyone.
So what does he want then?
I think he wants to defect.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
He's with two federal agents.
How are they going to grab him?
Carefully.
_
_
Use force against U.S. federal agents
in their own country?
This is a line Moscow has never crossed.
I don't think you understand
the stakes, Victor.
I do.
If it goes wrong, if they end up dead,
that's the kind of thing that
could restart the cold war.
If the Americans get their
hands on the files Mikhail stole,
it will start an actual war.
We need Vasso.
At any cost.
Where are they?
11th Street in Brooklyn,
but that's just a first stop.
Where after that?
I don't know,
but it feels like a trap.
[Phone ringing]
We're in Brooklyn.
(Vasso) Yes, I know.
Southwest Corner of the
Old Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Bond Street's the fastest
way to the Navy Yard.
No, there's construction at Livingston.
We'll get stuck.
_
You ready for this?
- [Gunshot]
- [Glass shattering]
That was a gunshot. Go, go, go!
[Phone rings]
(Vasso) Put your weapon away,
or this will be a very short meeting.
Building 17.
Half mile down this road.
Come on foot.
What is your eta on site?
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
You have to move faster.
Where's Mikhail?
Did he defect?
He's dead.
When?
Three days ago.
Killed by the SVR.
It was you.
You stole the SVR's files, not Mikhail.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
English, Alex.
Mikhail disappeared.
I was outside of his
apartment hoping he'd show up.
I stole the files.
Mikhail caught me.
But he didn't turn you in. Why?
Because of what I found in them.
The SVR operation against America?
They're calling it "Black Dagger."
I don't know the operation specifics,
but the scope is monumental.
[Speaking Russian]
I didn't sign up to kill innocent people
or do something that will start a war
between our countries.
Why would Moscow do this?
[Scoffs]
It's not Moscow,
at least not the political
authorities in Moscow.
(Michelle) What are you saying?
That the Kremlin's lost control of the SVR.
- [Speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
_
Mikhail secured new aliases for us.
Aliases the SVR was unaware of.
He was about to make
contact with the Americans.
Offering to trade the files I downloaded.
Where are the files now?
They're on an encrypted hard drive
secured inside a laptop.
Take us there. We'll protect you.
I don't know where it is.
What?
I gave it to Mikhail to hide.
Only he knows where it is.
Only I know the password to open the drive
and how to stop the deletion timer.
Deletion timer?
I uploaded a virus onto the laptop,
one that will auto-delete the files.
It was a safeguard against either of us
betraying the other.
How long?
48 hours.
What's wrong?
- Someone's out there.
- Don't. Don't.
[Gunfire]
Give me the phone.
(Operator) 911, where's your emergency?
Brooklyn Navy Yard. Building 17.
Multiple shots fired.
Federal agent requesting help.
[Gunfire]
Move him away from the door.
We got to hold them off for
three or four minutes tops
until NYPD gets here.
[Distant sirens wailing]
You know how to use that?
- Not really.
- Well, get it.
And don't point it at me.
Get down!
[Grunts]
[Gunshots]
_
_
_
_
I'm going to tourniquet your shoulder.
[Radio static]
[Groans]
Oh.
Uh...
You want to make the
people who did this pay,
we need to find the hard
drive with your files.
How?
The aliases Mikhail didn't
tell the SVR about...
he must have used them in hiding the drive.
Give them to us. We'll find it.
[Sirens continue approaching]
(Vasso) First alias:
Vladimir Kuznetsov.
Second alias:
Anatoly Motinkin.
- [Both speaking Russian]
- _
_
_
[Gunshot]
[Sirens continue approaching]